Contests & Promotions

Don't get me wrong, I've been playing Magic since it was carved out on cave walls and all the cards were called ´´ug´´. I'd like to thing that over that time I've gotten pretty okay at it. I even beat someone once. I swear!

But I'm here today to talk about the virtues of *collecting* the cards instead of playing with them (or, as a primary focus). A lot of people have a favorite card, say either for its power or over all coolness. Some - and you know who you are - like a card purely for its art. Sure it's a 1/1 creature with no useful abilities *cough*Sindbad

? Why collect over that? What could you possibly get out of collecting? Looking? Dust on the sheet protector? The monetary value?

Well. No.

The thrill of playing is fleeting from one match the next, but the completeness in the collectors' heart is permanent - once their collection is, that is. I collect as a primary and play as a secondary. I only started doing that this year after a 7 year hiatus of doing both. I found I still loved playing (although when I was playing, we didn't have ´´morph´´ or ´´flanking´´ or ´´shadow´´ and the Unholy Strength

had the pentagon - BRING IT BACK!) I got a greater, lasting joy from collecting. From having every card in a series. Each card is unique, laid out as if conquests from a hunt. They aren't stashed away in a box until Friday Night - they're there on display as a show of my mastery at opening packs en masse from Booster Boxes! They're there in my binder, arranged in order from color to color. Each one lovingly drunk in by my eyes - and much to the annoyance of my wife - each one loved like a small, cardboard child.

Collectors aren't in it for the money, we'll spend more money at the WOTC coffers than we'll ever recover selling them here. But that's not the point - the point is getting them all. The joy in my eyes when I got Damnation

after opening 20+ packets made it all worth while. Not because it was going to make my black deck awesome. Oh no, this baby would never see a deck. But because it made my collection, at last - complete.

Wait wait wait I hear you malign (yes, that’s right I’m abusing my English degree!) You just buy Booster Boxes, rip open the packets and then stuff them in folder sleeves? Where’s the joy in that? It’s no fun that way, is it? Well my friend, you need to buy a Booster Box. The Christmas feel of sitting on the floor, cross-legged opening little present after little present, watching as your collection grows – organizing your cards, first by color, then by alphabet. Being the first to read the flavor text and abilities. See that art, imagine how it would work in a deck and yes, even smell the card. Oh, come on, like you’ve never smelt a fresh, new Magic card. Slipping that card into place, watching as the folder fills out, blotting out the empty spots packet by packet. Double….double….double…ohh! What’s this? What a cool card! Come home my pet, right between Mindstab

are cool. When was the last time that happened? Where you want to have at least one of every common, no mater how bad it is. Commons are fodder for players but treasures for collectors. Even lands are treasures to be kept pristine. When all the players have shuffled off the Wall Of Spears flavor text, yours will still be perfect as it was. Pack fresh. When players whine that “oh if only I had an Uthden Troll

Collectors also have an advantage in duels. They’ve seen it all and played it all. Sure we can test play any card we want, we have them all! Why not take them out for a spin once in a while (In a sleeve and in a top loader, thank you very much) to see how they would play in a duel? You can’t pull a trick on a collector, it’s like trying to be the book club leader when one of the members is a Librarian. And by seeing and knowing every card intimately Collectors can plan better, can make more complete decks. To make more decks just for fun. When’s that last time you did that? Make a fun deck with nothing but creatures under 2/2 and no rares?

to finish this block, then who knows? That’s the thing about collecting, that’s its virtually endless. Even on a budget (such as I) it can work. You save for a Booster box and then, once in a great while – you get it and you savor it. You open it slowly. One pack a day for a month. (Get real, like all Magic Lovers I tear through a box in a day and a half, tops. That includes cataloging and ordering)